SELAE, Spain’s state-owned lottery group, has been ordered to explain its accountability of ‘unclaimed prizes’ totalling €3.5bn (£2.9m).
The operator of Loterías y Apuestas del Estado, Spain’s principal lottery, has come under scrutiny of its fiscal and bookkeeping practices by the Court of Auditors.
An audit of SELAE on 8 May 2025, uncovered that lottery operators had failed to disclose a figure of €3.539bn in “premios no repartidos”, or undistributed prizes.
Concerns were relayed to Spain parliament to be assessed by a Special Committee reporting to Parliament.
On 29 October, the Court of Auditors disclosed that SELAE had provided no response to questions related to the prize figure which was uncovered by the agency due to undertaking a review of “prize management controls” of the Spanish lottery.
SELAE informed auditors that it had not submitted a response to the committee. It also said it did not know the methodology used to calculate the amount and could not identify the components underpinning it.
The operator challenged the terminology, arguing that “undistributed prizes” do not correspond to a clearly identifiable legal or accounting category within its operations.
Instead, SELAE said the relevant distinction concerns prizes that have not been collected or claimed. Generally, winners have three months to claim their money, after which their entitlement expires.
According to the explanation recorded by auditors, expired prize amounts revert to the Treasury and are recognised in SELAE’s profit and loss account under other operating income.
The court nevertheless classified the parliamentary request as unfulfilled. Its objection was that SELAE had not answered the committee, even to communicate its concerns about the figure or explain its procedures and accounting treatment.
The finding therefore establishes an accountability failure, rather than confirming that €3.539bn has disappeared or represents a verified stock of unclaimed winnings.
Banks face scrutiny over prize records
Separate filings concern SELAE’s handling of banks responsible for paying larger lottery prizes.
Auditors identified 519 payment files covering 2023–2025, worth €14.79m, which still contained documentation deficiencies as of 18 June 2026.
Of those files, 341 lacked documentation and 178 contained incomplete records.
Depending on the case, missing material included original winning tickets or receipts and identification documents required for anti-money laundering checks.
The court criticised SELAE for failing to exercise contractual rights allowing it to demand repayment from banks that had not supplied the required supporting documents.
In the auditors’ assessment, leaving those rights unused meant surrendering income SELAE was entitled to recover, to the detriment of public funds.
SELAE contested that interpretation, drawing on advice from the State Legal Service. It argued that repayment should apply where a prize payment could have been improper, rather than automatically following every documentary breach.
The disagreement leaves the relevant audit recommendation unfulfilled. However, the documentation findings do not themselves establish that the underlying prize payments were fraudulent.
